GUWAHATI, Feb 26 – Members of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) today burnt the copies of the Railway Budget, which was placed in the Parliament by Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, to register their resentment over the alleged deceit of the people of the State by the Union Government.
In a statement here, the students’ body said that the demands for laying double tracks in the State and extending the broad-gauge track to Murkakcheleng on the northern bank, provision for recruiting local youths of the NE region against the C and D category vacancies of the NF Railway have been ignored by the Railway Budget.
Moreover, the demands for revocation of the decision to merge Katihar with the Rangiya Railway Division, providing the new Saraighat Bridge over the Brahmaputra also with the railway facilities, treating the broad-gauge expansion project to the Barak Valley as a Central Project etc have also been ignored by the Railway Minister while preparing the budget, alleged the students’ body.
It has further alleged that the announcements made in the Railway Budget for the benefit of the people of the State are very insignificant.
AASU president Sankar Prasad Roy said that the Union Railway Budget has been virtually turned into the Railway Budget of West Bengal. AASU advisor Samujjal Bhattacharyya said that while double-decker trains have been proposed for other areas of the country, Assam has been deprived of the double track facility.
In the city, the members of the All Guwahati Students’ Union burnt the copies of the Railway Budget near the NE Railway headquarters and the Guwahati Railway Station.
However, the State unit of the Trinamool Congress hailed the Railway Budget as a good one for the people of the State.
